Data from: Turbulence characteristics of ice-free radiatively driven convection in a deep, unstratified lake

This study examines data collected with an autonomous underwater glider
during a period of vigorous radiatively driven convection (RDC) and low
winds in deep, unstratified Lake Superior. Conductivity, temperature and
depth (CTD) measurements reveal distinct convective plumes of warm
downwelling water with temperature anomalies of ~0.1 °C and width scales
on the order of 10-100 m, consistent with theoretical scalings for the
unstratified convective regime. Shear and temperature microstructure
measurements indicate turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation (ε) and
temperature variance dissipation rates (ΧT) orders of magnitude greater in
thermal plumes than laterally adjacent waters. Decay timescales of ε
indicate highly efficient mixing is sustained throughout the night.
Energetics, mixing efficiency, and constraints on convective plume scales
are also discussed. These observations demonstrate that RDC can dominate
vertical mixing dynamics even in deep ice-free systems, and these systems
can serve as a real-scale laboratory for investigation of convective
dynamics.